It was the second week of since school's been out and a certain young girl, about sixteen years old, walked the streets of their subdivision with a cool mind. She is thinking of putting off school for a year. She thinks that her parents can manage it, since she has two older sisters that were doing excellently in their field of expertise and probably doesn’t want a disappointment for a daughter. Ana Maria was not the average girl in their family. At the most, she was below-average. She was only sixteen years old and she was already experiencing her quarter-life crisis. Her mother’s family were musicians and her father’s were academe teachers. She has a secret that only her parents and sisters only knew. She was failure in life and her parents were sad that she couldn’t play any instruments or pass to their alma maters. She owned nothing, did nothing, and sometimes, she felt nothing for things she’s supposed to feel something about! Ana Maria’s secret wish was to save the world. Even under all the spectacle, she can do something spectacular. It’s not as spectacular as saving people or saving the world but it’s a secret she’s still going to keep. When she finally ended up on their street, she saw the line of cars parked outside their house. Guests, she thought. As she got closer she realized that they weren’t just any guests. They were her relatives. Her titas, titos, cousins and grandparents that will probably question her about her doings in life. She couldn’t make a scene, of course. Her parents had to maintain the perfect life they seemed to be living.

Ana Maria woke up to the sound of asteroids hitting their neighbor’s house. A scream broke out and she had identified it as her sister’s. She immediately stood up and ran to her sister’s bedroom. “Ana Maria, we’re leaving this house!” Her mother yelled when she saw her. “What’s happening?” “If you haven’t noticed, we’re going to be dead in a few minutes!” Her mother replied. “Why wasn’t this on the news last night?” She asked. “I DON’T KNOW!” Her mother shouted again. After five minutes, the whole family scrambled out of the house and went to the car. “Should we be riding a car?” Her sister asked. “I don’t know but our government hasn’t given us specifics on how to avoid asteroids.” Their father responded. Their street was a mess! There were debris everywhere and people shouting all around. Ana Maria could even see the manang who swept the streets that always gave her a stink eye running for her life. “BAD NEWS!” Her other sister screamed. They all looked at the burning sky and saw a huge asteroid coming to destroy their whole lives. At once, Ana Maria knew that she had to do something now. Something that would fulfill her wishes and save their necks. She jumped out of the car and stared at the asteroid. “What are you doing, you crazy girl!” Her mother shouted. Yet her mother was going to be left speechless along with her sisters. Ana Maria was single-handedly holding off the asteroid with her mind. “Telekinesis.” His father gasped. It was like a movie where Ana Maria saved the day and everyone was going to believe in her. She’s saving the world!

Another gritty day in the life and another unreachable sci-fi dream. Ana Maria knew she had to face the reality sooner or later. She had to go to college, she had to ask help from her family and she had to keep up the perfect facade that her parents want to keep. Even if she didn’t want to, she had to. Her parents wanted to believe that their life was perfect and Ana Maria was the undoing of their imaginations. If she couldn’t have her dream of saving the world, she would at least let her parents achieve their dream even if it will cost her life. She had to live in the world she’s living in and she had to let go of the imaginations.

Let me tell you a bit about parallel universes. They’re fun to imagine and to invent stories in your mind; basically, the concept of parallel universes could be anything that your mind can conceive.

So are you wishing that Zayn is back in One Direction? Already done in a parallel universe. You imagined marrying Zayn Malik and having babies? Already happened. You thought about being born in another country, being in a relationship, being the most famous girl on Earth, and other being able to save the world? They’re all already happening right now. In a parallel universe.

The racism, rape culture, sexism, the demeaning of women, war and riots - all of these are so hard to analyze, but the root cause of these problems are in the way that we think. The way we live today is said to be the most impressive a human can be and tomorrow, we’ll be more impressive than today. With that being said, it’s a wonder why these social issues that have been attempted to be destroyed still exist today. And so as a coping mechanism, some people resorted to creating parallel universes.

Gone are the days in which we experience wars or riots and everything that causes it. In this parallel universe, you live to be who you are. You are so blissfully ecstatic to live. You are reading an exceptional book and sipping iced tea. Your house isn’t an oven toaster like it usually is during these months. The book you’re reading was born out of prejudice and sorrow but somehow, it managed to be in our perfect universe because it’s perfect. You don’t even know things like social prejudice and sadness because you are in our own perfect universe. Everything’s colored in your favorite colors. The sky is blue and you feel the world’s love.

In our own perfect universe, everything is probably made of sugar, spice, and everything nice. Reading the text above can make you feel well and alive, but we have to admit that there’s no such thing as a perfect world; there are no such things as eternal happiness in our universe and daydreaming things like these will only get you nowhere unless you do something about it.

Walt Disney once said, “If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse.” Analyzing what Walt said, if you can dream about a world where things such as rape culture, racism, etc, do not exist, then you can do it and it can happen. You must do something about it and then maybe the world can be more tolerable and almost perfect as you dreamed it would be.

Let’s admit it. We all fantasize about living in another world; a world where we have no limits, a world where things are how we want them to be, a world that is perfect. As normal human beings, we all want an escape from reality once in a while but the thing is, we cannot just take off, leave everything behind, and have an adventure. That is where daydreaming comes in and it is both a beautiful and haunting thing.

THE BEAUTY

Is it not a wonderful feeling knowing that you can travel millions of miles, be with your dream partner, have an epic journey, invent something that defies the laws of physics, discover a never before seen historic sight, and most importantly be the person you have always wanted to be with just a single fantasy? True, it might not be our reality but sometimes in life you need it. Your whole life can’t be all about the harsh reality you live in. Sometimes, you just need the impossible in your life, even if it’s just a little bit of it. There is no crime in wanting to be happy with a dream. At times, our daydreams even serve as a beacon of hope in the midst of the darkness in our lives or as an inspiration or springboard to realize our greatest dreams. Daydreaming becomes a storyboard on what we envision for our future. And I believe that as long as we know our limits, then having this in our lives is really amazing.

THE BEAST

If there’s one thing that I am really afraid of, it’s trapping myself in my own daydreams; distorting reality and fiction in my head. We usually use daydreaming as a means of creating a world where we have no problems and that’s perfectly fine. The bad aspect of this though is using it as an escape every single time responsibility and adversities come knocking up your door. No matter how much you dream of that perfect world where there are no problems, they will still exist. As I said, daydreaming is a magnificent thing but only when used in moderation and in a good way: as a positive channel to realize a fantasy or a dream into reality. You can’t have too much of the good stuff because how will you know what’s good if you don’t experience the bad?

At the end of the day, fantasizing and its effect in your world of reality and life will be up to you. You can use it as a positive or negative influence in your life. I personally believe though, that we should try to live a life where our reality is so good that we only daydream because we want to be able to create an even better world for ourselves and for the people we love. Would it not be great to live out your daydreams? The world you have always been dreaming of is always a possibility; everything is in the palm of your hands. No one else will be able to make your fantasies come true but yourself. No matter how crazy it seems, you can do it. The first step is to believe in yourself. So start today!